Epidemics Continue to Rage in Warsaw Ghetto, Nazi Press Reports

July 7, 1942

BERNE (Jul. 6)

The extent to which epidemics continue to rage in the Warsaw ghetto is reflected in the German newspapers reaching here today, which carry articles expressing sympathy with the Nazi officials who must come into contact with the Jews in the ghetto.

The Nazi papers report that commodities transported from the Warsaw ghetto, as well as workers and officials who come into contact with the ghetto, must undergo a thorough disinfection. Jewish workers accompanying the commodities on freight trains are not permitted to mingle with other Jews.

Under no circumstances are Jews permitted to enter any buildings in Warsaw reserved for German officials. The section of Warsaw assigned to Germans is completely isolated even from the Polish section of the city, in order to prevent the spread of epidemic diseases. The commodities which Jews in the ghetto are producing consist mainly of clothing, underwear and shoes which the Nazis transport to the army on the Russian front.

In Cracow, the Nazi newspapers report, the number of Jews is constantly decreasing. The local authorities are determined to make the city “judenrein” and are deporting from the ghetto even those 10,000 Jews who have been permitted to remain there, under previous orders.